by Jbs022810 i3 — March 3, 2010—The Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) has issued long-awaited waivers for several lighting products from the Buy American requirements that apply to manufactured goods to be used in projects funded by EERE under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, according to electrical manufacturing association NEMA.
The EERE document includes a waiver for screw-base and pin-base compact fluorescent lamps (with the exception of pin-based CFLs longer than 10 inches). The waiver excludes the plug-in CFLs longer than 10 inches since these products are made in the U.S.
EERE agreed with the lamp industry and determined that CFLs covered by the waiver are “non-available” for the purposes of the Buy American requirements, which means they not made in sufficient quantity in the U.S. to meet demand.
The effect of the waiver is to allow all screw-base and all pin-base CFLs shorter than 10 inches made outside the U.S. (e.g. in China) to be used in EERE Recovery Act projects, including lighting retrofit projects under the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant program.
